The National LGBT Health Education Center, Fenway Health and The Fenway Institute strongly support the May 14 recommendations issued by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention. PrEP is a proven tool for preventing HIV infection, reducing chances of infection by up to 92% according to several studies, including the iPrex study that Fenway helped spearhead.

The Education Center has been leading PrEP education efforts for providers across the country, and Fenway Health has been involved with PrEP research since the first safety studies were conducted in the US more than 5 years ago.

The CDC’s guidelines now expand the pool of patients who should be educated about PrEP to include:

Anyone who is in an ongoing sexual relationship with an HIV-infected partner.

A gay or bisexual man who has had sex without a condom or has been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection within the past six months, and is not in a mutually monogamous relationship with a partner who recently tested HIV-negative.

A heterosexual man or woman who does not always use condoms when having sex with partners known to be at risk for HIV (for example, injecting drug users or bisexual male partners of unknown HIV status), and is not in a mutually-monogamous relationship with a partner who recently tested HIV-negative.

Anyone who has, within the past six months, injected illicit drugs and shared equipment or been in a treatment program for injection drug use.

These guidelines will help increase access to PrEP for all at-risk persons. They will also underscore the need for providers to talk with their patients about their sexual health and consider PrEP as one key option in an HIV prevention package.

Read more about these new federal guidelines here. See below for some resources from the Education Center and the Fenway Institute.

PrEP Resources

Free On-Demand Webinar

Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis to Prevent HIV Transmission

Sponsored by the New England AIDS Education and Training Center and the National LGBT Health Education Center

Speakers: Kenneth Mayer, MD and Douglas Krakower, MD

Although the HIV prevention medication known as PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, has been approved by the FDA for use in MSM for almost two years, many providers do not feel prepared or comfortable prescribing PrEP to their patients. In this webinar, Dr. Ken Mayer, Medical Director of The Fenway Institute, Fenway Heath, updates participants on what is currently known about PrEP implementation in real world settings, and what the barriers and facilitators are to expanding PrEP use. Dr. Krakower provides cases demonstrating potential strategies related to caring for patients on PrEP.

Protecting Yourself from HIV through Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP): What You Need to Know

Protecting Yourself from HIV through PrEP informs consumers about PrEP and how it works, as well as other ways they can work with their health care providers to protect themselves against HIV. For a free download of the document, click here.